“Money” Responds To Critics

Both fighters have had their shots at wearing UFC featherweight gold, and while Edgar is a former UFC lightweight champion, Mendes believes he has a huge advantage over him.

“I think my power is the big difference between us,” Mendes said, during a recent interview with Submission Radio. “He has a lot more output, he uses more volume punches, but you know, there’s a lot of mistakes that I see, that he makes when he’s in there, throwing punches.

“So I think someone like me, who’s fast, explosive, powerful, can be a big danger for someone like him, that’s coming in a lot and loves to be in the pocket, [where] you get hit with big punches. Obviously we’ve seen him take some big punches and keep going, but we’ll see if he can handle my power that night. So we’ll find out very soon.”

Mendes suffered a loss to Conor McGregor earlier this year for the interim title, as he replaced Jose Aldo and fought on short notice. The Team Alpha Male fighter sees a different outcome with a full camp for “Notorious.”

“The only people that are questioning my conditioning are Conor McGregor nut-hangers, and that’s just because he said that,” Mendes said. “And dude, look at my fight with Aldo. I fought Aldo, who’s one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world. I went five rounds with him and pushed the pace the entire time. When I’m prepared, my cardio is never an issue. It never has been.

“There’s been one other fight with (Nik) Lentz, where I was sick and fought through it, and still beat that guy, who in my opinion would destroy Conor. So you’re always gonna get those people who are talking shit. And I don’t think my cardio is an issue. It never has been. I took that fight on short-notice, and that’s why it was an issue in that fight.

“(If) I train a proper fight, I kill Conor. And I don’t think my conditioning is gonna be a problem in this fight.”